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We had a fun weekend of Christmas activity.  We finally put our Christmas tree up a few days ago.  Kids and a tree always make it feel more like Christmas.  The boys had a great time putting the ornaments on, although they were pretty impatient and we ended up with some hooks on the floor and lots of ornaments on the same few branches.  And of course the bottom of the tree was full while the top had nothing on it.  So after they went to bed I ”fixed” it (I just couldn’t resist making it look a little more presentable).  Evan put the star on top and turned the lights on.  This is getting to be a much funner activity as the boys get older and more involved.

We also went to our ward Christmas Breakfast on Saturday.  We had breakfast and some crafts for the kids.  We had cooking decorating to make snowman faces and paper snowflake making.  Being in the Primary Presidency, I spent most of my time helping all the kids with the crafts and a few minutes with my own kids.  Jonny had to wrangle the boys for most of the time.  At the end Santa came to visit so we all lined up to see him.  Evan willingly sat on his lap, but Seth wanted nothing to do with him.  As soon as Santa came in the room Seth had a meltdown and was crying like crazy.  He just wanted to go sit by himself in the other room far away from Santa.  I forgot to get a picture of him, but I snapped a cute one of Evan.  Afterwards a lot of people went to our city holiday parade, but we decided not to brave the very cold weather and just go home to warm up.  Maybe we’ll go next year when Levi is a little older.

The tree decorating experience.

Some of their favorite ornaments.

Daddy helps Evan put the star on top.

The boys and their masterpiece.

The “before” picture when the boys were done decorating.

The “after” picture when I fixed it a little.

The boys and their snowmen cookies.

Since I have 3 kids now and wasn’t really thrilled at the prospect of traveling this year (and also since Jonny is on call this week and I didn’t want to have to rush back home if he got called) I decided to have Thanksgiving dinner at our house.  I’ll admit, I was a little nervous about the turkey preparation since I have never attempted to make a turkey before.  But I wasn’t too worried about the dinner in general.  So after consulting several sources on turkey prep (namely Food Network) I purchased my turkey and everything else I needed to make a traditional Thanksgiving feast.

We invited our guests (we switch off Thanksgiving and Christmas every year between our families and this year it was my mom’s turn for Thanksgiving) and I planned the dinner, got down the good dishes, cleaned up the house and got everything ready for the day.  I even used a couple of Evan’s preschool crafts as decorations.  I always make a pumpkin pie - from scratch I might add, no canned pumpkin here – so that was no different.  I made the pie and the rolls the day before.  Then on the morning of Thanksgiving I got the turkey ready and put it in the oven.  I prepped the rest of the dishes and waited for the guest to arrive.  One of my sisters got sick, my brother had to work and Papa got the flu (and Grandma went to North Carolina to spend the holiday with Uncle Andy and his family) so our numbers dwindled a bit.  Despite all that, we had a wonderful and intimate holiday dinner.  There were a couple improvements to the food I noted for next time, but overall everything turned out beautifully, and tasty too.  The turkey was pretty good, if I do say so myself. 

So thank you to my wonderful husband and kids as well as Gama, Aunt Kiwi and Great Gama, for coming to my first Thanksgiving dinner and making it a special day.  It is so fun to spend time relaxing with family over good food.  I’m so appreciative of all my family does for me and I’m so happy to have them in my life.  Isn’t that what this holiday is really about?

The Food

The People

We had grandma and papa over for dinner last night to celebrate grandma’s birthday.  The boys loved making birthday cards for her, which they proudly showed off.  I think their second favorite part was helping to blow out the candles (of course eating the cake was their favorite part).  The boys just adore their grandma, and they are so lucky to live so close and be able to spend so much time with her.  We all sure appreciate all she does for our family.

The boys show off the cards they made for Grandma.

We wanted to take some family outings this summer so we decided to take a trip this weekend to the Orange County fair before it closed.  The boys had a fun time eating hot dogs bigger than their heads and seeing all the farm animals.  They wanted to pet every single one – goats, sheep, cows, pigs, chickens…you name it.  Jonny took Seth on a ride on the Giant Ferris Wheel, which Evan would have nothing to do with.  So he and I sat and watched and waved every time Jonny and Seth went by.  And there was a pavillion dedicated to cheese where we saw a lifesize cow carved out of a big piece of cheddar.  Inside the pavillion was also a display from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese where kids could play in a big bowl of foam orange pieces that looked just liked the stuff.  They liked that a lot.

Of course, I thought Jonny grabbed the camera and he thought I did, so we ended up with no camera.  All we had was the camera in Jonny’s cell phone so we got one not so great picture of the boys.  Oh well, next year we’ll remember.

After a morning of relaxing and doing a few chores, we headed over to grandma and papa’s house for our annual trip to Heritage Park in Irvine for a picnic dinner and firework watching.  Unfortunately this year, they decided to re-seed the fields during the holiday weekend so the fields were closed.  Too bad they didn’t tell anyone about that ahead of time.  We were all a little disappointed to not be able to spread out and let the boys run around like they usually do, and we certainly weren’t the only ones that felt that way.  There were many people around us that complained to the staff that was working that night.  We were confined to the very edges of the grass near the sidewalks.

We tried to make the best of it and spread out our blanket to enjoy our yummy picnic.  We had sandwiches, fruit, juice and cookies.  It was delicious.  After dinner we took the boys to the playground (which was a little crowded since no one was playing on the fields) and tried to let them run around as much as we could.  Evan decided to brave the big 2-story slide and he had a blast.  Seth wanted to kick the soccer ball around and also enjoyed throwing it down the little slide then heading along after it head first.

Once it got dark the boys settled down a little and they watched a couple fireworks that the people next to us were setting off on the sidewalk.  Evan loved them.  Seth was not so sure.  They both asked for what seemed like a million times when the real fireworks would start.  Once they did, Evan was even more excited.  Seth was still a little scared and wanted to stay on papa or daddy’s lap.  At the end we had 2 tired boys on our hands.  They both said they enjoyed their 4th of July holiday and want to see fireworks again soon.

Mommy and her boys.

Seth running back and forth to the flowers.

Evan following behind Seth.

Relaxing after dinner.

Evan on the big slide.

The big, 2-story slide at the playground.

As a Christmas gift to the family from grandma and papa, we all got plane tickets to go to North Carolina to visit my neice, Emma, for spring break.  So the whole clan packed up and went – the 4 of us, grandma and papa, my brother-in-law and his wife, and my other sister-in-law.  After 13 hours of travelling by plane and automobiles (sorry, no trains), we made it to Wilmington, North Carolina.  We were all pretty exhausted, but certainly glad to be there and out of the car (well, actually a 12 person van we rented to hold all of us).  Some of us stayed at a hotel (which was really nice with 2 bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen) and the rest stayed at the condo my brother-in-law rents when he goes to NC to visit his daughter Emma.

That afternoon we got to see my neice Emma and celebrate her 7th birthday.  We had cake and balloons and had a lot of fun.  We made pasta dinner and tried to take it easy.

We visited the Wilmington Children’s Museum, which the kids loved.  There are all kinds of games, hands-on exhibits, crafts, science experiments and much more for the kids to enjoy.  There is even a section where you can dress up and be on-camera in front of a green screen or sing karaoke.  Some of the sets we dontated from the old “Dawson’s Creek” sets, which was filmed in Wilmington.

We went to the beach one afternoon.  It was pretty windy and I was freezing, but Jonny and the boys had a great time.  I have never seen Evan spend so much time in the water.  Usually he puts a foot in and runs away, never to go near it again that day.  But he was playing, splashing and having a blast.  We buried Emma in the sand, made sandcastles, and enjoyed the sun.

We went to Hiro’s one night for dinner, which is Emma’s favorite restaurant.  It is like a Benihana’s, where they prepare the food in front of you.  It was really fun, and very yummy.  Seth, however, didn’t agree.  He liked the food, but he was terrified of the fire.  Whenever our chef would make a display of fire, Seth would cry.  I told him to cover his eyes, so he sat there wimpering with his eyes covered for half of the dinner.  He was even scared of the fires at the other tables in the restaurant.  I felt pretty bad for him.  The only part of the dinner he liked was going to visit the big fishtank at the front of restaurant.

We went to a couple different parks and let the kids run around.  They had fun chasing bubbles, climbing everything and sliding down the slides together.  We had a picnic lunch one afternoon too.  Emma and Evan made the sandwiches, which was interesting (we added a little extra pb&j and cleaned them up a bit before we actually ate them).  They were very proud of themselves.

By the end of the week, I think we were all pretty exhausted and ready to go home, even though it meant another 13 hour travel journey to get back.  It was really nice to see Emma, and the boys just adored being able to play with their cousin.  While we were there, my brother-in-law had a job interview and offer, so he and his wife will be moving there later this month.  It will be great for him to be so much closer to his daughter, and of course, a good excuse for us to visit again.

For pics, checkout the slideshow below. 

http://www.slide.com/r/YAO59Uk7lD9EU6NU8xGyIbbqrZKmtZ4O

Aftter spending our spring break in North Carolina visiting my neice, Emma, we made it back home very late last night.  I have never been so excited to sleep in my own bed.  We had a lot of fun and the boys loved to see their cousin, but the traveling was pretty exhausting.  It took 13 hours to get there and 13 more to get back (counting the drive to the airport, flight time, drive from the airport to the hotel etc.)  We’re glad to be home and get back into our routines.  I’ll post pictures and more details soon.